Tax transparency
Aegon allocates profits where value is created through our business activities. For us, tax follows business, which means that our decisions are taken for business reasons and not for tax advantages. We won’t, for example, set up artificial tax structures or base business in countries simply to reduce the amount of tax we pay.
In the 2017 Tax Transparency Benchmark, published this week, Aegon was ranked second out of 76 Dutch listed companies, and first in its sector. Despite Aegon scoring so well compared to peers and other listed companies, we still strive to improve in terms of transparency and governance.
As a result of the dialogue with internal and external stakeholders about the need for a Global Tax Policy, we were happy to publish our new Global Tax Policy in 2016. This policy outlines Aegon’s approach to responsible taxpaying, which seeks to align the long-term interests of all our stakeholders, including customers, employees, business partners, investors, and wider society. Also meetings with several NGOs are being held to discuss Aegon’s tax strategy and policy on a regular basis.
Country-by-country tax disclosure
In our relationship with tax authorities, we strive to work together in a constructive and transparent manner. This extends to public discussion and disclosure around the policies and principles of how our tax affairs are approached, and the overall governance and oversight of our tax position.
Since 2016, we have also reported revenues and tax paid on a country-by-country basis. This information is provided to the Dutch tax authorities and they will share it with other countries for complete transparency.
Lobbying
Being a responsible business, we lobby for issues and legislation that we think will benefit our customers, employees, wider society and our business.
Primarily, Aegon’s lobbying efforts include proposals regarding pensions and retirement law reforms, other reforms that might influence the insurance sector, and proposals regarding cybersecurity and data privacy.
By far, the majority of our lobbying expenditures are made in the United States. Here, our spending on lobbying is a matter of public record. We report all our expenditures and contributions ̶ including a record of what issues we have lobbied on ̶ to the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In 2016, Aegon spent a total $2,200,000 on federal lobbying activities in the United States. This included costs made by our own government affairs department, as well as our fees to trade associations.
Political contributions
Aegon respects the laws relating to political donations in each of its markets. As a company we do not make donations to political parties, governments or candidates for public office.
In the United States, in common with many other companies, Aegon has established a Political Action Committee (PAC), which pools voluntary contributions from employees to support candidates for elected legislative office. No corporate contributions are made to the PAC.
Officers from Transamerica, Aegon's US subsidiary, form the PAC Board, which approves contributions from the PAC fund. These are made to candidates ̶ regardless of political party affiliation ̶ who are in a position to support legislative policy impacting Aegon’s business.
The PAC’s contributions to candidates, and employee contributions to the PAC of more than $200/year, are publically available on the website of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In total, less than $250,000 was contributed by employees in 2016.
